A guide to Thailand’s new rules of the road

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Where is the lol emoticon?

Gone like the dodo bird my friend, disappeared along with the others days ago and were replaced......

Edited September 13, 2022 by ThailandRyan

[daveAustin]

Can understand having a grace period…. this is Thailand after all. But surely the most effective way to get the new laws recognised is to hit people with maximum fines from day one. It’ll be big news everywhere with everyone talking about it. 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, EricTh said:

Thai people are notorious for breaking all these traffic rules. Let's hope that there will be enough enforcement this time or else it's just on paper and nothing improves.

 

 

But serious education on these laws needed to achieved first.

[Burma Bill]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Drunk driving is punished especially harshly

Those ex-pat bar stool pundits leaving on their motorbikes after a session should take note!!

[IvorBiggun2]

Unfortunately out in the rural areas the laws are not going to be obeyed by the police or the locals. The police are integrated within the families through marriage etc that they're not going to rock the boat and upset them. Family come first in Thailand.

[ikke1959]

arrange a good registrationsystem and use it now for the 3 months.. after that you can see in the system how many times they broke the law , got warningsetc.. and so no excise anymore to pay heavy fines... but probably.. I don't have so money.. Okay pay 500 THB and no ticket and drive on...will be again common  

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

They still need to stop the people and explain just what would have happened and the fine they would have been given.  If they just say they are giving a grace period how will the offenders know to not violate the codes.  Oh wait that would require the police to actually enforce the laws. Just because the fees have increased does not mean the public will suddenly pay attention....

And will the Public be paying attention to the new Laws in maybe 5 or 10 Years time ?

Probably not !

The new Laws are worth only the effort of the enforcement, which we all know will be close to Zero.

[Jai Dee]

A grammar police post aimed at the News Team has been removed.

 

From the Forum Rules:

 

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[mrfill]

And in 3 months time what will happen?

Why, an extension to the grace period. It'll be like the state of emergency !

[CM Dad]

First they need to post speed limit signs on roads, especially highways.  I recently asked several people, both Thais and non-Thais what the speed limit was on major highways around Chiang Mai and received a wide variety of answers such as 80, 90, 100. and even 120 KPH.  There are few, if any, signs on the roads here.

[Golden Triangle]

It's all very well upping the ante on driving offences, all this country needs now is a police force to enforce them. 

 

Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to when that's likely to happen ? ? ????

[IvorBiggun2]

1 minute ago, CM Dad said:

First they need to post speed limit signs on roads, especially highways.  I recently asked several people, both Thais and non-Thais what the speed limit was on major highways around Chiang Mai and received a wide variety of answers such as 80, 90, 100. and even 120 KPH.  There are few, if any, signs on the roads here.

Road signs will make no difference whatsoever. The school near me has a signed limit of 30km. I'll lay odds that the limit is not adhered to 100%. No parking in the hard shoulder. Will that be obeyed? The list is endless. What they need in my opinion is tougher fines and the enforcement of collecting those fines. I think the majority of fines are not paid.

[sanuk711]

19 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

Those ex-pat bar stool pundits leaving on their motorbikes after a session should take note!!

They wont dare touch them----they know their all ex SAS----Navy Seals -- ...or Macrame experts........

[arick]

So 4000 baht for every time your driving through a city or village over 60km 

[HappyExpat57]

Are stories like this why they took away the laugh emoticon?

[IvorBiggun2]

35 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

Those ex-pat bar stool pundits leaving on their motorbikes after a session should take note!!

Senior police officer, where I live, decided to park his pickup in a shop after a night of drinking.

[RayOday]

2 hours ago, ebean001 said:

i actually honor Thailand for their driving behavior. there has never been a police stop of an individual car that i have seen in 15 years i have lived here. in USA there has been mulitple murders at traffic stops. huge fines. The drivers here are well discipline compared to other countries. i guess i am missing something in my 15 years here.  

What you might be missing is that Thailand is in the top 5 countries for the highest road deaths per Capita in the world. They were #2 for years. I have commented too many times on this forum as to why the police, health ministry, and department of land transport are so impotent to affect change. The lack of results speak to their failure. I view this step as another try yet without road enforcement nothing will happen. One caveat is if they institute the Chinese violation capture model. The model captures license plates on camera and OCR software reads every capture to derive the speed between each node. A ticket and point system auto generates the ticket and points. Doesn't make for fun driving in remote areas as the average speed limit even on their best engineered roads is ridiculously low. I have driven across the country and I am aware of how it works. On the other hand there are touts outside the police stations willing to get rid of your points for 600 yuan and return in 20 minutes with the deed done. In the case of Thailand it appears that this may function as a raise for the police. Sorry for the cynicism. 

[kennw]

2 hours ago, ebean001 said:

i actually honor Thailand for their driving behavior. there has never been a police stop of an individual car that i have seen in 15 years i have lived here. in USA there has been mulitple murders at traffic stops. huge fines. The drivers here are well discipline compared to other countries. i guess i am missing something in my 15 years here.  

Suggest you go to a new optometrist  

[Chongalulu]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

Where is the lol emoticon?

What’s the essential difference between the new emoticon reaction options? They all appear to be inconsequential variations of the same sentiment. Just have a single "recommend " button if the intention is to disguise the removal of a "disagree" option. 

[Chongalulu]

31 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Are stories like this why they took away the laugh emoticon?

Don’t fret,you now have 4 options of the same reaction! ???? 

[connda]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Driving against traffic and not wearing a crash helmet or safety belt, meanwhile, come with a maximum fine of 2,000 baht – a fourfold increase from 500 baht.

I just can not fathom how driving against traffic is considered to be on par with not wearing a seatbelt or helmet.

Not wearing a seatbelt or helmet may be deadly for you.
Driving against traffic?  You risk killing yourself and taking a bunch of people with you. 
This is why the fatality figures will not budge.  I can only guess that the BIB simply don't care.

[dpcjsr]

Thailand is suffering but the government is singing "We're in the money. We're in the money. We've got a lot of what it takes to get along..."????

[ThailandRyan]

42 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Road signs will make no difference whatsoever. The school near me has a signed limit of 30km. I'll lay odds that the limit is not adhered to 100%. No parking in the hard shoulder. Will that be obeyed? The list is endless. What they need in my opinion is tougher fines and the enforcement of collecting those fines. I think the majority of fines are not paid.

They will need an entire new division of Tow Truck enforcement vehicles staffed by hundreds to sweep in and clear the left lanes of those cars parked illegally at the curb blocking just Rama 4 and Rama 3 here in BKK.  They will need a large lot in which to store these vehicles and then charge the owners 10k Thb to retrieve them along with a date and time to appear before a court and explain why the car was parked illegally.  Best bet, is that what will be heard is "I was only running into 7 or at one of the road side stalls getting food", who cares about the traffic backlog it creates....selfish <deleted> some folks are.....

[Road Warrior]

good luck to Mr plod . Thais CANT ADJUST  to improve their driving ever !!

[Canuckluck]

1 hour ago, CM Dad said:

First they need to post speed limit signs on roads, especially highways.  I recently asked several people, both Thais and non-Thais what the speed limit was on major highways around Chiang Mai and received a wide variety of answers such as 80, 90, 100. and even 120 KPH.  There are few, if any, signs on the roads here.

 They do post the speed limits on major highways albeit not as much as in Canada.  You got a variety of answers b/c that's how the speed limits work here.Left lane may have a posting of 60,middle lane 80 ,passing lane 100.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Canuckluck

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Canuckluck said:

 They do post the speed limits on major highways albeit not as much as in Canada.  You got a variety of answers b/c that's how the speed limits work here.Left lane may have a posting of 60,middle lane 80 ,passing lane 100.

Driving down to Hua Hin you have spots where the left lane is 80kph, the middle lane is 100 kph and the right lane is a max of 120 kph with a minimum of 100 kph.  Maybe designed for the different sized vehicles, but every time we drive to the house from BKK there is always a bus or a semi-truck in the right had lane doing 80.....kind of defeats the purpose and causes a huge back-up.  Then you have the wannabe speed racers who cut in and out at 160kph.........still no highway police in sight except at a checkpoint they may or may not be using.

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

“We will also promote public awareness of the new laws during this period,” he added.

The suspense is killing me.......

[IvorBiggun2]

And Thais need to be notified that the breakdown lane/hard shoulder is not a motorcycle lane. Many Thais think that's its purpose.

[PETERTHEEATER]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Old rules new rules will change nothing as long as the attitude of all drives will change and i don't see how and they will need thousands more policemen just to enforce the new laws, or any laws by that matter, when i drive down Sukhumvit Rd and the traffic is a chock of block and every one dose their best to get there faster by illegally overtaking and jumping red lights and not even one policeman in sight...

Tut tut! They are on duty in an air-conditioned room working out manual switching sequences to ensure the traffic lights from one end of Sukhumvit to the other are never in synchrony.......

[2baht]

2 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Instead of passing even more useless laws how about importing police from countries that actually care about road safety? clearly the Thai's are not up for the job.

Nah, leave them to their own devices! They are beyond redemtion!